smith



' (Model) .M. SMITH. Maniifac-ture of AlkaliBallS.

No. 238,064. Patehted Feb.- 22 18 81.

ATT RN EYS.

UNITED. STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MINARD M. SMITH, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

MANUFACTURE OF ALKALl-BALLS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 238,064, dated February22, 1881.

Application filed March 29, 1sso. (Model) To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, M. M. SMITH, of New York city and State, haveinvented an Improved Manufacture of Alkali-Balls, of which the followingis a specification.

It has been customary to cover alkali-balls with a coating of meltedresin, each ball'being cast on a separate piece of wire, whose extremityserves as a handle in dipping and means of suspension on thedrying-frame.

Now the object of my invention is to produce a series of these coatedalkali-balls strung on the same wire, as hereinafter described.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents a vertical elevation, and Fig. 2 aside elevation, of the flask in which my article of manufacture isprepared. Fig. 3 represents the series of alkali-balls on a single wirewhich passes through them. Fig. 4 is a plan View of the apparatus.

I will now describe the means by which I produce my article, but make noclaim to them as forming any part of my invention.

A represents a flask having the base 13, on which are the wheels 0. D isthe fixed, and E the hinged, part of flask, each having the ingates at,runners b, and molds c. The wires F are attached at the lower ends topins d, and drawn centrally up over the molds c in the fixed part of theflask, and made fast to the rods G, that slide in sleeves H on the upperpart of section D, and are retracted by springs I to hold the wires F atthe proper tension. To

s'lacken or disengage the wires from the rods the operator takes hold ofthe handle f and draws them forward. The latch K holds the sectionstogether.

In casting the balls on the wires the flask is closed and the meltedalkali poured in at the in-gates a, so as to flow into molds 0 throughthe runners b in the usual way. After the balls have hardened around thecentral wire each string or series of balls is removed, and can bedipped readily to receive its water-proof coating of resin or othersubstance, at a great saving of labor over the old plan of dipping eachball separately. The facility of removing from the frames, packing, andtransporting my,

strings of alkali-balls traversed by a common wire so lessens the costof production that they can be afforded to the consumer at a cheaperrate, while the support that each ball receives from the wire greatlylessens the usual damage or loss in handling and during transportation.

Having thus described all that is necessary to a full understanding ofmyinventiomwhat I claim as new is- The improved article of manufactureherein described, consisting in a series of coated alkali-balls attachedtogether and traversed by a common wire passing through the entireseries, substantially as set forth. 1

MINARD M. SMITH.

